Mail box and house-number-display device



Jan. 13, 1931.

T. H. LANDGRAF MAIL BOX AND HOUSE NUMBER DISPLAY Filed May 1, 1929 DEVICE Tqonon: Hmw LANDGRAF atboamqs Patented Jan. 13, 1931 UNITED STATES i m THEODORE HENRY LAnnenAr, E ATLANTA, GEORGIA MAIL BOX AND HQUsE-NU vrBER- SPILAY DEViCE Application filed May 1,

ing or other building, formed withan illuininating chamber and removable transparent closure, said closure bearing the house or address number associated with said box, and means for illuminating said chamber whereby the number is plainly visible from,

the approach to said dwelling.

A further object of this invention is the provision of an illuminated mail box of this character for displaying a particular house number, having means for mounting the box in the wall of a building and means for effecting the illumination thereof from within the dwelling or other building.

With these and other objects in view, which will become apparent as the description pro-' ceeds, the invent-ion resides in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts, hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which like characters of reference indicate like parts throughout the several figures, of which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective View of my improved I illuminated mail box; 1 Fig. 2 is a vertical section on line 22 of i Fig.1; i o

Fig. 3 is a detailed view of the closure bearing the house number and manner of mounting same; and Fig. 4 is a fragmentary elevation of a portion of the mail box showing attaching flange. In the delivery of 1 mail the postman is often inconvenienced by the obscure numbering of residences and rendering it necessary to obtain the numbers of'adj oining houses to ascertain a particular house number, especially at night.

Because of the often obscure locations of 7 house numbers and meagre exterior lighting effects, their proper display is effected only through considerable expense and difliculty,

192.9. S'eria1' No.' 2359,5953.

and it was'to. overcome such deficiencies andto provide. at nominal cost a mail boxconstitut-ingan illuminatedhouse and address number device adapted to be conveniently locatedso as to ,be readily. discernibleas the entrance of the dwelling or building is ap-,. proached, and adapted for ready removal and easy installation wherechange of address becomes necessary that I designed the illuminated mail box device adaptedto display its identifying house number, forming the subject matter of this invention.

In the illustrated embodiment characteriz- I ing this invention there is shown a mail box 1 formed with'conventional door 2, nameplate 3, mail slot 4 and associated flap 5 of conventional design. ;The upper section of said .boX 1 is formed with chamber .or compartmentfi in which is mounted incandescent lamp 7 attached to insulated electric cord -8 and controlled .by switch 9 for effecting illumination of said chamber." Thecord 8 is introduced into chamber 6 through opening 1O in the rear wall of themail box; The operating knob 11 of switch 9 is adapted to extend through aperture. 12, in the present instance, located in the end wall of thebox but vwhich;maybe otherwise positioned as desired. While the box proper may be constructed-of any desired material ,itispreferably constructed from sheet metal, and in the present instance,its front wall is stamped. to forma design 13. -Chamher 6' is formed with an opening 14, the bottom '15 of which constitutes a. seat adapted to support closure-.member 16 formed with transparent numeralsl'? secured therein by frame 18:s'ecured over the rear edges of said closure by screws 19 threadedly" engageable with said.plate,las will be clearwithout further discussion. "The closure 16 may be formed in'one glasspiece or other transparent element, with'its body surrounding the numeral l7, painted or otherwise rendered non transparentasQO, or. it may be formed of a plurality of sections a, b, c, and pl, ieach section bearing an individual numeral, so that the numbers may :be readily changed and easily positioned as desired..- The brackets 21' forho'ld'ing papers or other matter not insertable in slot 4 are riveted or otherwise suitably secured to therear wall of box 1. Though the boxmay be attached tothe wall of the building in any suitable manner, in the present instance, its rear wall adjacent its upper end is formed with a bayonet slot 22 adapted to receive a screw head or other element suitably mounted in the main supporting medium.

The modified form illustrated lIl Fig. 4v is,

similar to the form above described with. the exception that it is provided'with a flange 23 constituting an additionalmeans of attachment and preventing its 'dislodgment when mounted in the wall of a building or the like:

From the above it is apparent that I have designed a unique mail box designed .to also display its identifying house number, simple in construction, manufacturable at only a slightly increased cost over the box alone, capable of being easily installed and efficient for the purposes intended.

Although in practice I have found the form of my invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings and referred to in the above description as the preferred embodiment is the most efiicient and practical; yet

7 realizing that conditions concurrent with the adoption of my device will necessarily vary, I des1re:to emphasize that various minor changes 1n details of construction, proportion and arrangement of parts, may be resorted to within the scope ofthe appended claim without departing from or sacrificing any of the principles of this invention. 7 Having thus described my invention, what I desire protected by Letters Patentis as set forth in the following claim:

A combination mailbox and house number display device comprising a substantially rectangular casing having a partition dividing the same into a mail receptacle formed with a slot adjacent its upper end and an opening intermediate theslot and lower end and an illuminating compartment formed with. a rectangular opening intermediate said slot and upper end of said casing, a flap closure for said slot and hinged closure for said lower opening having means'forureceiving name indicia, transparent number elements adapted to be supported by said partition and forming a closure for the opening in said illuminating compartment, a frame within.

said compartment and circumscribing said rectangular opening, said frame embodying means for detachably securing the transparent elements in operative position, an illuminating device mounted on the rear wall of the illuminating compartment, means mounted exteriorly ofthe casing for controlling the illuminating device, and a removable top closure for said casing. This specification signed March, A. D. 1929.

THEODORE HENRY LANDGRAF.

this 26th day of 

